Armored Core: Lightless Memories
by Isao Takemura
Summary: Two years ago, a female Raven was tricked by an unknown corporation to do a mission. It was a trap, and she fought courageously, but died. She was the fiancée of Tomiya Ryuko. Years later, a band of Ravens come together to solve the mysteries and struggle
1. The Start of my Fury was the End of You

Armored Core: Lightless Memories

Chapter 1: _"The start of my fury was the end of you..."_

Crickets chirped outside the house in a musical rhythm. All seemed peaceful, until a ring from a computer was heard. This ring was exceptionally loud and rapid, which roused a figure out of a nearby bed.

"Ugh...who in the hell is calling at 4 in the morning?" the figure asked himself, as he sat down in front of the computer, shaking the mouse a bit to get it out of it's standby mode. The screen flickered to life, with the message "INCOMING CALL" flashing across the screen in big, fluorescent letters.

"What the...?" the pilot, seen having deep set blue eyes and black hair that fell to the base of his neck. "Dammit, Kaiser, don't you get any sleep?" he muttered to himself as he clicked the "ACCEPT" button.

"Tomiya? You awake?" Kaiser's deep set voice asked, and a small video picture of him appeared in the corner of the screen.

"Yeah...what do you want?" Tomiya asked, glaring at the video feed of Kaiser in the corner, not particularly happy with being roused from his sleep at 4 in the morning.

"I have two things to tell you." Kaiser said, giving him a slightly forlorn look. "I think I've come across a rumor about your fiancée's death..."

"Huh!? Tell me!" Tomiya almost shouted, keeping his voice in check to avoid waking his current day girlfriend, Mokohara , as he switched over to just a simple phone function.

...

Tomiya switched back to speakerphone function. "Are you sure about this?" He asked, all riled up now.  
"Well...It IS only a rumor...but you should check it out." Kaiser said, simply. Kaiser was not one to beat around the bush, a straightforward man. "Oh, the second thing, Mirage has an assignment for you that they need done right away."

"Son of a bitch! Why me!?" Tomiya shouted in protest.

Kaiser couldn't help but chuckle. "Well, you ARE the A-1 Raven in the arena standings..." Kaiser murmured. "If you beat me, they'll sure as hell call on you."

"...Alright, tell 'em I'll be there shortly." Tomiya said, closing down the program. He spun on his chair and wrote a note, then picked it up and placed it on his pillow.

The note read "Sorry sweetie, I had to leave on an assignment early in the morning, I'll be back for breakfast"

Tomiya changed into a set of more presentable clothing and headed for where his AC was.

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Tomiya was set into his AC, glancing around at the HUD display. The blue armor of the Cold Dragon shining slightly in the still bright moonlight.

"We're sorry to have to drag you out here this early." A Mirage representative said through the com unit of Cold Dragon.

"Don't worry about it." Tomiya replied, trying to keep his annoyance in check.

"About your assignment...We want you to attack one of Crest's branch factories. It was being built within our territory, which we had previously agreed that it would not have been." The representative droned. "From scout reports, The branch factory is protected by a mixed force of combat MTs and Mobile MTs."

"Understood." Tomiya muttered, giving the video feed of the representative a bored glance. He didn't like it when clients droned on about the mission.

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"We're at the drop site." Kotohara, a transport chopper pilot alerted Tomiya. "Haven't seen you around here lately, Dragon Eye, somethin' up?" Kotohara asked, Tomiya (Codenamed Dragon Eye) and Kotohara had been friends since grade school, and shared a brotherly comradeship.

"I've been dwelling around in the Arena, haven't you heard?" Tomiya asked, the Arena matches were always on TV.

"...Oh! I remember! That battle between you and Ace? That was an awesome battle!" Kotohara said giddily.

"Uh...did you forget that we're at the drop site?" Tomiya reminded. "Tsk Tsk..."

"Oh, yeah...sorry." Kotohara apologized, and dropped Tomiya's AC to the drop site.

Unfortunately, one of the aforementioned MTs was struck by a falling AC, incapacitated by the force of the hit.

"...Served, buddy. Served" Tomiya muttered, dislodging his foot from the body of the machine.

Tomiya hit his boosters and moved forward, deeper into the complex.

AC Layout

Cold Dragon

Tech Base: Armored Core 3

Description: A "Heavyweight" AC. Built to be able to withstand more than most Middleweight AC designs, but able to keep up with them in speed. Equips heavy arm parts and sacrifices back attachments. Targeting window is very wide, meaning the machinegun in the right hand is very accurate.

Color

General  
Base: R 0 G 0 B 140  
Aid: R 0 G 0 B 0  
Optional: R 0 G 0 B 200

Detail: R 200 G200 B 0  
Joint: R 0 G 0 B 0

Pilot: Tomiya Ryuko

AP: 8528

Head: MHD -RE/005

Core: MCM -MX/002

Arms: CAH -22- NIX

Legs: CLM -01- EDF

Booster: MBT - NI/MARE

FCS: AOX-ANA

Generator: MGP - VE905

Radiator: RMR - ICICLE

Inside: N/A

Ext.: N/A

Back Unit R/L: N/A / N/A

Arm Unit R/L: MWG - MG/1000 / MLB-MOONLIGHT

Optional: OP-INTENSIFY

Author's Note: I have yet to play Silent line, and Nexus, so the only rules of AC construction I know are from AC3, hence the OP-INTENSIFY.

Tomiya stopped behind a stack of crates, peeking around occasionally to see what was out there. He began to sidestep, and then boosted towards the first enemy he saw, surprising it, and jamming the barrel of his MG/1000 into the cockpit window of the MT, letting off a volley of rounds, surely killing the pilot inside. Shells the size of trashcans fell onto the ground as Tomiya seeked out a new target.

Tomiya powered up his MOONLIGHT and swung it at the door to the partially built factory, slicing through it like a hot knife through butter. Tomiya slammed the fist of his AC through the now sliced door, the pieces flying forward a bit and making loud clanging noises. Tomiya looked around the rather dusty room he was in.

"This is weird...there's nothing in here..." Tomiya mumbled to himself. 

A loud crash was suddenly heard behind Tomiya. Before Tomiya could react, a grenade slammed into the back of Cold Dragon, sending it flying a bit and landing face first on the floor.

"Fucker!" Tomiya shouted, getting his bearings, and got up from the ground to face his opponent.

AC Layout

Unknown

PILOT NAME: Unknown

Tech Base: Armored Core 3

Description: A heavyweight AC that is rather fast despite it's weight. Carries a Grenade Launcher to wear his enemies down then finishes them with his MOONLIGHT.

Color

General  
All: R 0 G 0 B 0

Head: MHD-MM/003

Core: CCM-00-STO

Arms: CAH-22-NIX

Legs: MLH-MX/VOLAR

Booster: MBT-NI/MARE

FCS: AOX-ANA

Generator: MGP-VE905

Radiator: RMR-ICICLE

Inside: N/A

Ext: N/A

Back Unit R/L: KWM-AD-60/KWM-AD-60

Arm Unit R/L: CWGG-GR-12/MLB-MOONLIGHT

Optional: OP-INTENSIFY

"Huh...? Who the hell are you!?" Tomiya shouted at the pilot, even though the pilot had his com turned off.

The unknown pilot boosted towards Tomiya, activating his own MOONLIGHT and slashing at Cold Dragon's chest. Tomiya boosted backwards away from the unknown pilot, firing rounds from his Machinegun, striking a line from the enemy's chest down it's leg. The pilot paid no attention to the damage done to his AC as he aimed his Grenade Rifle at Cold Dragon's head, and fired. Tomiya slid across the factory floor, dodging the shot easily. Activating his MOONLIGHT and swinging the blue blade in the air, using OP-INTENSIFY's blade wave. The blue disk-like wave flew towards the unknown AC at an almost impossible speed, slicing off the arm that had the Grenade Rifle.

"Ugh...You got me." The pilot said to Tomiya, boosting backwards, out of the factory, and took to the skies.

"Oh no you don't! Get back here you son of a bitch!" Tomiya shouted, chasing after the unknown pilot and firing rounds from his machinegun at the fleeing pilot, many of them not finding their mark.

"We'll meet again..." The pilot said, before he was out of range for radio functionality, and seemed to disappear.

Tomiya sat back in the cockpit chair of Cold Dragon, holding a hand to his face for a moment before slamming his fist on the "armrest" of the chair and letting out a string of words that would make even the heartiest sailor cringe...

Tomiya could only wonder who that pilot was, and what his purpose at the factory was. No matter, his mission was complete, and he left the factory, which was bombed by Mirage Stealth Bombers, since the area was now cleared out, and safe.

The clock in the cockpit now read 6:00 AM.

"Aw shit! I've only got an hour to get back to the house so I won't miss breakfast!" Tomiya grimaced, heading back to receive his pay for the mission. "If I miss breakfast, Mokohara's going to be pissed off at me..."

As Tomiya headed back, the sun began to creep over the mountains.

Chapter 1 End...


	2. Morning Lemon Tea

Chapter 2: _Morning Lemon Tea_

The moon slowly crept behind the mountains, the sun replacing it on the other side. Tomiya stopped his AC inside the garage-type building somewhat away from the house. He climbed out of the AC and used the handles on the legs to get to the ground, and headed for his house.

He opened the door quietly, looking around slightly. "Good, she's not up yet." He said to himself, sneaking off to the bathroom to take a shower. He reached down and gripped the bottom of his shirt and pulled it up over his head, tossing the sweat-soaked shirt in the hamper. Reaching down and pulling the button on his pants loose, and unzipping his jeans, tossing those in the hamper as well.

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Tomiya got out of the shower after what seemed like forever, but in reality, was only 15 minutes. He dried himself off, and combed his raven black hair back, and wrapped the towel around his waist. Little did he know, Mokohara was already awake and plotting something.

"Damn I'm good." Tomiya whispered to himself, heading to his bedroom to get some clothes. When he suddenly felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist. He was a bit suprised at first. "...?"

"Hey...you're late." Mokohara, his hugger said, squeezing him a bit tighter in her sort of bear hug.

Tomiya felt her ample breasts press against his back from her tighter hug. "Hey, that isn't fair. You always get up at 7:00 in the morning to make breakfast. It's only 6:20."

"Early bird gets the worm, right?" She said, smiling at him and clawing at his stomach a little with her nails.

"True, but the second mouse gets the cheese." He retorted, grabbing her wrists to pry himself from her grip. "Let me get dressed, and maybe we could have some sausage and eggs." He said, disappearing into their room while looking over his shoulder.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Tomiya sat at the table, taking a bite off one of the sausage links, yawning a bit.

"Sooo....what was that whole mission about?" Mokohara asked him, squirting some of the "ketchup" on the sausages. It was an imitation ketchup solution.

"Mirage wanted me to clear out this branch Crest factory that was in violation of their building rules...I had to fight an AC there." He said, swallowing the mouthfull of sausage he had.

"An AC? Who was it?" Mokohara asked while leaning across the table to look him face to face.

"I don't know, it was all in black, and the pilot wouldn't respond when I asked him to identify himself." Tomiya said, leaning back in his chair, clenching his fork between his teeth, taking a sip of some lemon tea.

"Oh...Okay." Mokohara replied, sipping her own cup of tea.

"Is it just me, or has there been a lot more requests these days?" Tomiya asked, holding his fork between his fingers, looking at her.

"Yeah, in fact, I...er...nevermind." She said with a nervous grin and a giggle to match.

"What?" Tomiya asked, he just caught Mokohara doing something red handed. "You're not afraid to -tell me-...are you?"

"Well..." Mokohara looked down at her lap, blushing, because when Tomiya got like that, it caused her to blush. "I got an assignment about an hour after you left..." She mumbled, looking up at Tomiya slowly.

"Oh, so -that's- why you were up earlier than usual." He said, grinning a bit. "What was the reward?"

"180000 Credits." She replied, the blush on her cheeks dying down.

"Oh, I see." He said, giving her one of those odd, devious-type of looks. "I'm not sure what I'm about to do will be a gift...or punishment."

"...What're you talking about?" She asked, tilting her head a bit, still having a bit of a bed head, her long brown hair falling to one side as well.

Tomiya got up and began to head to the sink with his plate. When he got there, he placed the plate and fork into the sink, and started to walk to the living room. He stopped, and suddenly grabbed Mokohara by the shoulders and stood her up, then turned her to face him and pressed his lips against hers.

"!!" was Mokohara's only response as she felt his lips press against hers, leaning against him a bit and closing her eyes.

Tomiya was quick to take over, placing one hand on her waist and the other on the back of her head, leaning her back onto the table.

"Oh...not again." Mokohara said playfully, since her mind was practically broken now. Because to her, Tomiya was just that good.

CHAPTER 2 END...


	3. Ich bin verrückt!

Chapter 3: Ich bin verrückt!

Tomiya got up out of his bed and stretched a bit. It was only 12:00, he went to sleep after breakfast and an after breakfast "treat". He looked around a bit and listened to some birds chirping outside, and walked over to the windowsill. Looking over the hill at some of the buildings of the main city, he sighed a bit.

"I wonder what kind of assignments they'll have in store for me today." He said to himself, sighing a bit. "Got a feeling I might be meeting someone new today."

He walked over into the kitchen and pulled the refridgerator door open. He pulled out a jug of egg nog and shook it up, then opened it. He sat down at the kitchen table and grabbed the newspaper, pulling it open and pouring himself a glass. His eyes scanned the inside of the paper until he hit the Urgent news section.

-Several unknown ACs spotted around industrial sectors according to several Ravens-  
Starting 3 days ago, reports of unknown Armored Cores have been appearing during missions according to various Ravens. We are currently investigating the unknown ACs' origins. We are making a hypothesis that they are prototype AI ACs, but we cannot be sure if that is the cause.

"Hm...odd." Tomiya said to himself, taking a sip of his drink. "My attacker spoke to me though. Oh well, I suppose I'll keep watch for updates about the situation...Maybe I should offer to investigate..." He thought for a moment. "Nah, I'll let the companies ask me to do so."

At that moment, his computer let out a ring, the same annoying ring.

He looked up quickly, almost hurting his neck, and looked up at the computer. "Speak of the devil." Tomiya said to himself, getting up to go over to the computer. He sat down and jiggled the mouse a bit to get the computer out of standby mode. Since the computer had a caller ID, he looked up at the corner of the screen.

"Kisaragi, eh?" He said to himself, clicking on the ACCEPT button.

Video feed of a young woman in a busniess suit appeared in the corner. The woman adjusted her glasses and looked at Tomiya.

"Hello. Mr. Ryuko, I take it?" The woman asked, brushing some misplaced bangs out of her face.

Tomiya sighed a little, he really disliked the self consious businesswomen. Then again, he was a member of the male race, a heterosexual male at that, and didn't really care about his appearance to others. "Yeah, that's me." He replied.

"I wanted to call to tell you that Kisaragi has an assignment for you." She said. "Kisaragi wants you to investigate one of Crest's laboratories. Be warned, Crest knows that Kisaragi's interest in that laboratory has risen over a few weeks, and have increased their security measures." The representative said, giving him a serious look.

"...I understand." He said, giving her one of his best "is that it?" looks.

"I wish you luck." She said, cutting the video and audio.

"...All I hope is that the mission pays good." Tomiya said to himself, slumping in his chair and drinking from his glass.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cold Dragon's feet dug into the soil beneath it as it landed in the dropzone. Tomiya glanced around at his HUD, and at the circular radar representation. There seemed to be not that many of these "Security measures" that the representative spoke about. He dashed into some trees and used them for cover. What he saw were 3, gigantic, hulking MTs decked out with more heavy weaponry than the heaviest AC could carry.

"HOLY FUCKING SHIT!" Was all that Tomiya could say as he saw the 3 monstrosities of metal and wire. "They expect me to stand up to THOSE!? They're batshit insane!" He shouted to himself.

Grumbling, he dashed out into the open and made a blind rush towards one of the monstrosities, activating his MOONLIGHT, he slashed at the machine, slicing off one of it's legs and causing it to tumble to the ground, incapacitated. Cold Dragon took to the skies on plumes of plasma as a barrage of grenades and laser shots hit where he was standing, making a huge crater.

"They better be paying me EXTRA for fighting these." He said, firing several rounds from his MG-1000 at one of them, rupturing it's Ammunition stores and making the giant machine go down in a glorious fireball. He sailed downards towards the last one, and his MOONLIGHT hummed to life, blue energy collecting at the tapered points and making the blade, slicing the giant through the middle, causing an explosion that send Cold Dragon sprawling backwards onto the ground. Part of that impact was from a KARASAWA laser rifle.

Tomiya, while coming out of his daze, looked over to his AP meter. "Huh...? 7540? That explosion wasn't THAT powerful, was it?" He then found himself gazing down the barrel of a KARASAWA laser rifle. A voice dripping with lack of control blared over Tomiya's com. "Zeit... Feind zu sterben..."

"...What the FUCK?!" Tomiya shouted, sending his foot into the core of the AC that had tried to destroy him, knocking it back and away from him

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

AC Layout

AC Name: Hell's Wings

Pilot: Till Sonne

Description: A Middleweight AC that looks frail. Wields a KARASAWA to cause maximum damage.

AP: 8170

Head: CHD-01-ATE

Core: MCL-SS-RAY

Arms: CAL-44-EAS

Legs: CLB-33-NMU

Booster: CBT-FLEET

FCS: AOX-ANA

Generator: MGP-VE905

Radiator: RMR-ICICLE

Inside: N/A

Ext.: N/A

Back Unit: KWM-AD-60

Arm Unit R/L: MWG-KARASAWA/MLB-HALBERD

Optional: OP-INTENSIFY

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Hell's Wings flew back and stumbled back a bit. Unable to regain his bearings in time, Tomiya boosted foward and swung his MOONLIGHT foward. Till was unlucky, and the MOONLIGHT swing sliced right through his KARASAWA, causing the weapon to explode. Till, knowing that he couldn't outlast the Cold Dragon with just his HALBERD, attempted to escape, activating his HALBERD, and ripping the weapon from his arm and chucking the laser blade at Tomiya. The HALBERD throwing knife hit Cold Dragon square in the foot, causing it's AP to drop to 7002.

"Hey, goddamn douchebag!" Tomiya shouted in pure anger, boosting to Hell's Wings and shoulder ramming it. Knocking it to the ground before unloading with his Machinegun, raking the AC up and down the entire machine. Ruining it completely, but not killing the pilot.

Tomiya then carried on with his investigation of the laboratory...it was completely deserted for some reason, he did, however, find a few AC parts, and some computer data.

"Mission Objective Achieved." The gruff male voice of his computer said. Tomiya slumped back in his chair, at least it wasn't an unidentified AC he had to fight this time.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tomiya went to the office of his direct client, slouched in one of the chairs.

"I want to thank you for the data you recieved there." His client said.

"...Don't mention it." Tomiya said.

"I'm transferring 15,000,000 credits to your account." The client murmured, looking at Tomiya over the rim of his sunglasses.

Tomiya's jaw dropped so fast that it broke a law of gravity.

"Yes, you heard me. 15,000,000. We didn't expect you to fight those monsters, but you did, therefore we pay extra."

"Uh...thanks...!" Tomiya said, snapping back into reality. Then getting up from his seat and walking out of the office.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tomiya pushed the door open to his house, and immediately heard a familiar voice, in english this time. "...Oh HELL no." He muttered to himself as he went into the kitchen. He laid eyes on the pilot he had just defeated earlier, with some bandages on him from his encounter, talking with Mokohara over a glass of egg nog.

Tomiya's eyebrow twitched a bit. "What the hell is going on here?"

Till, the injured pilot, looked up at Tomiya. His eyes went a little wider and he pointed at Tomiya. "Sie bemuttern Bumser!" Till shouted, getting up to deck Tomiya a good one.

Mokohara grabbed Till by the arm. "I take it you two know each other?" She asked, looking between the two.

Tomiya gave an angry glare and pointed at Till. "That crazy kraut tried to kill me!"

Mokohara sighed. "To-kun...He doesn't have a place to stay...Can't you become friends with him?" She asked, giving him that puppy dog eyed look.

Tomiya's angry face faltered a bit, and he sighed. "...I...suppose..." He held out his hand to Till. "Tomiya Ryuko."

Till gave him an uneasy glance, then gripped Tomiya's hand firmly. "Till Sonne, well met." He replied. He seemed to be like a reasonable man...outside of an AC that is.

Tomiya sighed, flopping into a chair. _"Great...It's bad enough I had to be almost killed by him, now I have to LIVE with him...oh well, what could be worse?" _He though to himself, reaching over for some pain pills.

CHAPTER 3 END...


	4. Black Friday

Chapter 4: Black Friday

Tomiya woke up, noticing that Mokohara's arms were wrapped around him. "...?" He had a major headache, then he looked over at empty beer cans and beer bottles. "...Damn...we must've gone all out last night." He mumbled to himself. He looked over at Till, who was passed out in a chair.

Till snored heavily, his long black hair in a mess around his head. Tomiya gently pulled Mokohara's arms from him, getting up and heading to the bathroom to vomit. "Ugh...I didn't know I could hold my liquor like that." He said to himself, throwing up another mouthful of vomit into the toilet. "Till passed out before I even had 12 bottles of wine and 5 cans of beer..."

Tomiya left the bathroom and went to the couch, and lied down, where he promptly decided to pass out again.

--------------------------------------

Till leaned over the sleeping Tomiya and tapped his face. "Yo, get up, we're hittin' the mall." he said, walking off to get ready. Tomiya got up, rubbing his eyes. "What the hell for? Aren't you tired?" He asked, sitting up sloppily.

"Hey, I may not be able to hold my liquor as good as you, but I can recover from a hangover quicker than you." Till replied, brushing out his hair. "The initial hellstorm of early bird shoppers is over, so Mokohara decided to take advantage of the lack of people now."

"But I don't want to, dammit." Tomiya muttered, his eyes narrowing.

Mokohara suddenly jumped onto Tomiya's lap, hugging him. "Well you're coming with us wether you like it not!" She said, smiling at him and dragging him off the couch.

Tomiya grumbled as he was dragged off the couch. "God dammit, I should be in bed SLEEPING and WASTING THE DAY AWAY, not shopping."

------------------------------------------

Mokohara flung the passenger side door open of the car, jumping out, full of joy. Till followed, dusting off his trench coat. Tomiya almost tumbled out of the car, tired and low spirited. Mokohara grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the large mall. Till trailed behind the two, hands stuffed in his pockets.

Till was the first, however, to look inside. "They're still pretty thick in here." He said, looking back at the two. "Be careful and don't get yourself trampled by remaining mad crowds." he added, walking off to find a sword shop.

Mokohara tightened her grip on Tomiya's wrist. "I wanna go buy some new underwear and show you some sexy outfits and-" she was suddenly cut off.

"No." Tomiya said. "If I'm going to be here, I might as well shop around for stuff I can use." He said, giving her one of his best "what the hell?" looks. "...Though...you can show me when we get home." He said with a grin as he walked off. Where was he heading?

Videogames. Of course.

Tomiya wandered into the store, looking around, hands stuffed in his pockets. He looked over and saw someone reaching up for a game high on the shelf. The person was a crazy haired man with a long ponytail at the base of his neck. He wore a pair of ivory pants, combat boots, and a leather vest. Tomiya walked over to the shelf and gave it a kick, knocking the game down into the man's hands.

"Hey, thanks." He said.

"Don't mention it." Tomiya said, browsing the shelf.

"Hey, my name's Darien. How about you?" Darien asked, brushing some hair away from his face.

Tomiya reached up and plucked a game from the shelf, looking it over a bit. "Tomiya." he replied.

Darien blinked. "You mean...like....A-1 Rank Tomiya?" He asked, raising a brow.

"Yeah, what's it to ya?" He asked, he hated it when he suddenly had newfound rabid fans because he was the A-1 Raven. He wondered when people would learn to shut up.

Darien blinked again. "Oh, that's cool." He said, walking over to a woman he looked like he had came in the mall with. "Hey, Chiyo? Could you spare a few extra credits? I seem to be running short on money." He said with a sheepish grin.

All that came from the woman's lips was an exasperated sigh as she fished out a few credits from her wallet. She turned around and looked at Tomiya over the rim of her glasses which casually rested on the tip of her nose. "I suppose you're Darien's new friend." She said, blinking.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that..." He replied, looking down at the much shorter woman. "And I suppose you're his girlfriend?" He asked.

"WHAT!? No! I on! Me, with that PERV?" She replied sharply, pointing at Darien.

Darien looked up, giving her one of his "What did I do?" looks.

Chiyo looked down, blushing a bit from her outburst.

Tomiya just looked at her, then turned away, he was going to find Mokohara and pay for his stuff. "Hey, wait a minute." Darien said.

"...?" Tomiya looked back at him over his shoulder "Yeah?"

Darien twiddled his thumbs a little. "Well...Our place is kinda...uh...being we stay with you?"

"...!?" He gave him one of his best "what the hell?" looks. "..." He sighed a bit, closing his eyes. "Yeah, alright. Break anything and you're going to owe me money." He said, walking away.

Darien smiled. "Sweet." he said, following, Chiyo in tow.

------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey, I had that first, miss." Mokohara said in protest to a woman who was much bigger than her, and had short hair. "I'm getting that for my boyfriend!"

"You can have it if you can pry it out of my goddamn grip!" The woman shouted.

"Hey, I don't like the language, there's children present!" Mokohara shouted back, tugging on the object.

"I'll say whatever the hell I want!" She screamed.

BLUDGEON!!! Mokohara's fist went sailing into the woman's jaw, sending her crashing to the ground onto a pile of...toys?

"...W-what happened...?" The burly woman said, blinking.

Mokohara smiled, taking the new "Legends of Japan: Snake Hanyou Masaki" figure from her hand. "I don't know, but you hit the ground like a sack of potatoes...Now you better keep your mouth clean, or you'll get another." She said, walking away, giggling to herself all girly-like.

----------------------------

Till was leaving the sword shop, having several weapons in tow. 2 katanas, a broadsword, several knives, and a helmet. He hummed to himself as he met up with the others. "...Who're they?" he asked, pointing at Darien and Chiyo.

"They don't have a place at the current moment, so I decided to let them stay with us." Tomiya said.

Darien grinned a little. "Yeah...my name's Darien, and this is Chiyo."

Chiyo gave a simple wave, she wasn't what one would call "social".

Till gave them both a bored glance, since all that shopping had made him tired. "Well, whatever, let's get out of here." He said, walking over to the...van...thing and putting his belongings in it.

The rest of the group ran over and put their belongings in the back, and hopped into the van. Tomiya tried to open the driver side door, but the guy next to him parked too close.

"..." Tomiya gave a disgusted look before keying the side of the guy's car to hell and back, and then knocking out his windshield with his elbow, before getting into the van and driving out of the parking lot, heading back to the house.

Chapter 4 End...

Author's Note: I know there wasn't much of anything related to Armored Core in this chapter, but this was a chapter used to. 1: Introduce some characters. and 2: Try and give the readers a little more depth and insight into the personalities of the characters.


	5. Good Times With Memories

Chapter 5: Good Times with Memories

Tomiya looked over his shoulder as he crept out of the house. It was late, and there was a crescent moon resting high in the sky. As soon as he thought it was safe, he whipped out a cell-phone like device and dialed a few numbers, then waiting for the rings, since he had it on speakerphone. Someone picked up.

"Hello..?" The voice answered, sounding a little tired.

"Yo, are we still on for bar hopping?" Tomiya asked, brushing some of his black bangs out of his face, reaching into the pocket of his black leather coat for a piece of candy.

"Huh...? Oh...Tomiya? Oh...yeah, let me get dressed and I'll meet you at that old place we used to go to when we were in college." The voice replied, a click being heard.

"I wonder if he'll get drunk again and almost get laid like he did back in college." Tomiya asked himself, smirking a bit at some old memories that birthed themselves in his mind.

-----------------------------------------------

"Hey, You're late." The person said, brushing some of his unruly dirty blonde hair from his face.

"Now you know how I felt when you weren't on time, Ace." Tomiya retorted, giving him a fake look of anger, before laughing.

"Goddamn, I haven't seen you in forever, Tomiya." Ace said, smirking a bit. "Where've you been?"

"Living in that group home that was for sale about...eh...5 miles from here." Tomiya said, taking a seat on a barstool. "So, how's the lovelife coming along?" He asked, with a grin.

Ace looked at the bar, watching his reflection in his drink. "Well...there is this one girl I've been talking to for a while...and I think it's possible we could hit it off."

Tomiya chuckled. "My boy's growing up to become a man!"

"Shut up, man." He said "Besides, you know that Mokohara was all over me in our first year." He said with a smirk.

"No she wasn't." He said, laughing a bit "Dude, she was on me like a magnet."

"Hah, whatever you say." Ace said, taking a sip of his beer, seeing a familiar figure through the clear glass. "..."

"Hey, Ace...? What's up? You look like you just saw a ghost or something." Tomiya said.

Ace swallowed hard and set the glass down shakily. "She's here...!" he whispered harshly to Tomiya.

"Huh? Who's here?" he asked.

"The girl I was telling you about." Ace replied, pointing at a violet haired girl, she was dressed in a simple shirt, pants, and jacket with fur cuffs. Her hair reached down to her bottom, and her bangs were parted, but came down to her chin. She looked like one of those silent, shy girls. She simply took a sip of her drink as she overheard part of Tomiya and Ace's conversation.

Tomiya looked at the girl. "Hot damn, where did you meet a flaming beauty like her?"

Ace gave him a grin. "She hired me as a consort for a mission."

"You lucky son of a bitch!" Tomiya commented.

The girl simply got up and left, she seemed to be one of those "keep to themselves" girls. She quietly walked out the doorway, her long violet hair waving gently in the breeze.

"...Anyways, remember that one time in chemistry?" Ace asked, remembering an incident of college.

"Which one?" Tomiya asked

(zomgflashbacktime)

Tomiya tightened his safety goggles and proceeded to get to work. There were two liquids that were indistinguishable by smell or color, and needed to be looked at under a microscope. "Hey, Mr. Lawson! I need some-" He was abruptly cut off by a loud shattering noise, as the resident klutz in the class knocked over ALL of the empty slides, breaking them all into little shards. "...Nevermind." He said, looking over to Ace.

"Hey, you got any empty slides?" he asked, crossing his fingers behind his back.

"No...but..." Ace replied, looking around and grabbing a pair of glasses he saw laying on the desk. "Use these!" he said with a grin.

"..." He gave Ace his best "you dumbass" look before using the glasses to examine the liquid. At that moment, a girl returned to the classroom and started looking for something. "Hey, Ace? Do you know where my glasses are?" She asked him, giving him one of those looks, because...she secretly had a crush on him.

"Uh...nope! Haven't seen 'em!" He told her, laughing a little nervously.

"Oh Okay, If you fi..." She trailed off as she saw Tomiya using her glasses to examine the substance. "TOMIYA! WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO MY READING GLASSES, YOU COCKBITE!" she screamed, stomping over to Tomiya.

"Yo, quit yelling, I need concentration so I can find the right substance so I won't make a mistake and blow up this damn building." He told her, looking at her through the corner of his eye, giving his classic "go away" look.

"I don't care! You ruined my 150 credit reading glasses!" She shouted.

"Shouldn't have spent so much money on a pair of reading glasses." he retorted, standing up and looking down at her, simply giving her the "go away" look.

"I DON'T CARE!" she screamed again, slapping Tomiya so hard he stumbled into a table, knocking it over and knocking a bunch of chemicals to the floor, the mixing chemicals spontaneously combusting and causing a fire on the floor.

"Now look what you did, you dolt." Tomiya said, getting up and going away from the fire. "Katie, you need to stop getting so asshurt over small things. That's the way the cookie crumbles, deal with it." He muttered as the fire supression system activated.

"...I'm sorry..." Katie said, looking down a little, and blushing, because she did find Tomiya more attractive than Ace at times...and Tomiya being drenched in water only made him more appealing.

(zomgendflashback)

"Dude, that's messed up that you suggested I use someone's glasses." Tomiya said, taking a sip of his drink.

"Why am I the bad guy? You're the one who used them!" Ace said in defense.

"I didn't have any other choice, it was either that, or fail the class." Tomiya said.

Ace gave him the look, the look that signifies one has been owned. "...Good point."

"Hey, that doesn't compare to that one time..." Tomiya started

(zomganotherflashback)

Ace sat up in his bed, his head was throbbing like one was bashing his skull in with a hammer. He was horribly hung over. He rubbed his temples and felt something rub up against his hip. He looked over at a large lump in the sheets, and pulled it off. A nearly naked Mokohara was lying there. "!?" "WHAT THE HELL!?" Ace stumbled out of the bed and fell to the floor, then got up and crawled away to the wall. Mokohara rolled over to face him, opening one eye.

"Ace-chan...keep it down.." she mumbled.

"Tell me what's going on!"

"Well...last night, we went out and bought some drinks...you were in a really romantic mood for some reason. and we came home, and drank some...and we started talking..."

Ace gave her the "owned" look as he remembered a scene from earlier in the night.

_"Hey...Ace? What's it like to fall in love?" A giggly, drunk Mokohara asked Ace._

Ace wiped some beer from his lips and laughed a little. "Well, you never can tell,...I suppose it just happens!" He told her, taking another swig.

"And then?" Ace asked, afraid of the answer.

"Well..I didn't take advantage of you...but you did start taking off your clothes" She said, giggling a little.

"I WHAT?! ...H-how far did I go?" He asked, ashamed now.

"You were...average sized." She said, grinning childishly.

"!? YOU SAW MY...!!" Ace screamed out in agony, grasping his head and falling down.

(zomgendflashbackagain)

"Ahaha, yeah, you got owned, and I heard the whole thing." Tomiya said, grinning.

"Hey, that was NOT cool, man!" Ace said. "...But at least I got closer to getting laid than you did!"

"And who's still the virgin?" Tomiya asked, giving him the smug grin.

Yet again, Ace was slapped across the face with his "owned" look. "Shut up!" He stammered, embarassed.

"Heh...good times." Tomiya said, before his cell phone...thing...started to ring. He picked it up. "Yo, Dragon Eye speaking." ... "Oh? 200,000 credits? I'm on it." ... "Consort you say? Alright." He hung up, and gave Ace a look. "You heard the word Consort, you know what to do."

"Yep." Ace said, giving him the "are you thinking what I'm thinking" look.

"Time to kick some ass, yo." Tomiya said, getting up from his barstool and running off to his Hangar.

"Catch you there!" Ace shouted after him as he got on his motorcycle and headed to his own hangar.

Chapter 5 end...


	6. Brothers In Arms

Chapter 6: Brothers in Arms

Night had fallen upon the valley, two ACs slid across the dirt ground, heading for a facility at the end. The valley lit up in parts from the plumes of plasma from the backs of the ACs. The moon was only a crescent, so the eyes of the AC and chest mounted spotlights provided the only light in the dark.

"Tomiya, I can see the fortress, stop and approach slowly!" Ace told Tomiya, Ace knew how to avoid an ambush, be cautious.

Cold Dragon skidded to a stop, the dust kicking up and causing the beam of the light to become more defined. "Yeah, Yeah, whatever." Tomiya replied. "What were we doing here in the first place?" he asked.

"Remember, we were supposed to destroy the runaway AC." Ace told him.

"Oh, yeah...well, if he ran away, why won't he just come out and fight to defend his newfound territory?" Tomiya questioned, raising a brow.

Ace shrugged. "Because he's a coward?"

"Or he's got several booby traps planted in the fortress and we'll have to pull treasure hunter skills to avoid them...did you bring the bullhide whip?" Tomiya asked with a chuckle.

"No, Mokohara forgot it in her college dorm after we had fun." Ace told him, jokingly.

"Shut the fuck up and focus on the mission." Tomiya said sharply, narrowing his eyes.

Ace drew back a little. "It was only a joke, man."

Tomiya's voice was still sharp. "It wasn't a funny one."

"Sheesh..." Ace was heard over the radio and moved in onto the facility.

Tomiya muttered something incoherently and followed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The chaingun on Ace's AC flipped back and disengaged, it had run out of ammo. There had been massive waves of MTs attacking after they had entered the facility.

Tomiya stabbed his MOONLIGHT into the last one, it exploded in a glorious fireball, Cold Dragon's arm pulled back and the sky blue blade of the MOONLIGHT disengaged and shrunk into the attachment. "I don't believe it, an Ambush party all the way out here!"

"When I find that runaway Raven, I'll make sure he never sees the sun rise again!" Ace boosted off into the next room.

Tomiya muttered. "Whatever happened to stop and approach slowly?" before following Ace into the room.

"Ack! I'm under fire!" was the first thing Tomiya heard from Ace. Tomiya looked over at Ace's attacker, the attacker was a somewhat bulky AC-looking thing with boxy arms. The arms sprayed an odd, green substance that ate away at AC armor.

Ace shouted. "Watch out, that thing has some sort of acid shit!"

Tomiya tried to react to the attack aimed at him, he threw his arm up in reflex, the Acid melting away the MOONLIGHT and causing it to blow up. "Dammit!" Tomiya gritted his teeth and aimed his MG-1000 at the boxy arms, firing around 200 rounds at the entire thing, causing the boxy arms to explode, and spray acidic slime all over the Core unit of Ace's AC.

Ace shouted. "Dammit! I'm going to have to pull back! I'm heavily damaged!"

Tomiya shouted back. "Well stop pissing your pants over it and get the hell out of here!"

Tomiya stood in front of the what seemed to be defeated AC. The AC deployed Orbit Cannon Missile Launchers, that all floated in front of Ace's exit.

Ace panicked. "I can't get through!"

Tomiya shouted in a commandeering tone. "Christ, you big baby, just weave through his missiles!"

Ace escaped soon enough, and the AC deployed Machineguns from the bottoms of it's destroyed Acid guns. Tomiya stared at the AC for a moment. "Tell me who you work for..."

"The truth is, I'm not a runaway, I'm testing this new Kisaragi AC model...Sakata Industries asked me to test it on a worthy pilot." The pilot said, firing a storm of Machinegun bullets at a firing rate of 2.

Tomiya boosted to the side and dodged the shots, opening fire with his own MG-1000 to distract the Prototype AC. Tomiya let out a shout as he dashed towards the AC and sent Cold Dragon's fist slamming directly into the head of it, causing the head to fly off and the machine to stumble backwards. Tomiya slammed the barrel of his MG-1000 into the cockpit hatch and waited for a second.

"You'll be in hell before me." Tomiya said before opening fire, surely killing the pilot inside, the machine stumbling like as if it were in a drunken stupor before walking a few more steps, then falling "face" first.

Tomiya leaned back in his cockpit chair. "God, I'm glad THAT's over with." He told himself.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Crest Representative spoke in a monotone to Tomiya. "In addition to your credit reward, we've developed a new plan of payment as well."

Tomiya's brow furrowed with interest. "What might that be."

"Well...we at Crest have decided to attempt to salvage weaponry that may be of interest to the Raven, and we're putting two KWG MG-2500/FR2 weapons in your garage." The crest Representative told him.

"Oh, I see." Tomiya said, nodding and walking out.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Awwww man! You don't have it!?" Ace whined, trying to find a replacement model for his heavily damaged-beyond repair core part.

"Nope, we don't carry it anymore." The shopkeeper told him.

Ace looked him face to face. "Where can I get one?"

The shopkeeper typed in a few keys into his computer. "Far North."

Ace gave a look of defeat. "I see..." He walked out of the shop with a look of despair, going to Tomiya's to ask him for help.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Ace knocked on Tomiya's door, and waited there with his hands behind his back. Tomiya answered the door. "Ace? What're you doing here?" He asked.

"Well...I"ll tell you the truth, the shop doesn't have the part we're looking for and we have to go far north for it, and...that means-" Ace was cut off by an estatic Darien.

"ROAD TRIP!!!" Darien shouted, carrying a suitcase of clothing with him, as if he had already known this would happen.

Mokohara grabbed Tomiya's hand. "We were planning on taking a trip too...all of us need to get out of the house and go somewhere..." she said to Tomiya and Ace.

Till packed his last bag and headed out to the Van. "If we're taking a road trip, let's not dick around and let's get going." He said.

Chiyo followed Darien out, almost with a blushy smile just by looking at him, but she quickly shook her head and put on her determined, independent "I am woman hear me roar" face.

Tomiya thought to himself for a moment. _"Oh...HELL...no."_ "Well, since it's your part..." Tomiya started.

Ace looked at him with some interest. "Yeah? Yeah?"

Tomiya shoved the van keys into Ace's face so that they stuck a little. "YOU DRIVE!" He shouted with a grin and got shotgun, yes, Mokohara packed his stuff too.

Ace was confused, wearing his "owned" face for a moment before shouting. "HEY! That ain't fair!"

Tomiya shouted back as he got into the passenger seat. "Yeah it is, now shut up and drive!" He told Ace.

Ace muttered a line of curses as he climbed into the driver's seat, and started the Van up and headed off....TO THE NORTH.

Chapter 6 End...


	7. We're In this truck for HOW LONG?

Chapter 7: We're in this truck for HOW LONG?

After much debating, the group changed their mind from taking a van to taking a transport truck. They managed to fit 3 ACs in it, crouching of course. The truck roared to life, and the trip began to unfold. The first stop was at a grocery store for food and such.

Tomiya hopped out of the truck. "Hey, I'll be right back" he said, running off into the store.

Chiyo tapped Ace on the shoulder. "Hey, Ace, how long are we going to be on this trip" She adjusted her glasses, chewing on a toothpick.

Ace looked back at her, admiring her for a moment, Chiyo WAS good looking, after all. "About six hours." he said.

Chiyo's jaw dropped, the toothpick falling to the ground. "WHAT? You mean I have to be stuck in this truck with this perv for 6 hours" She pointed at Darien, while Darien gave his innocent "What did I do" look.

Ace laughed a little. "Come on, he can't be THAT bad." His dirty blonde bangs waved from the air from the air conditioner.

Chiyo frowned. "You don't know the bit of it, buddy." she said as she let her hair out of the braid she usually kept it in.

Darien sighed, looking over at Till, who was asleep. Good thing too, he didn't want to hear all this yelling and screaming.

Tomiya came back with bags of potato chips, cookies, and other foods, and sodas. "We're ready to go" he exclaimed with a grin. Truth is, he had a horrible sweet tooth.

Ace gave him a "what the hell" look. "Don't you think...you...uh...overdid it" He asked, quirking a brow.  
Tomiya's blue eyes widened slightly. "No, seeing as this trip is going to be six hours long."

Chiyo sighed when Tomiya said that sentence. "Don't remind me of how long the trip is." She said, looking in the rear-view mirror to put some lipstick on.

Darien watched Chiyo apply her lipstick. "Why do you wear that junk on your face? It ruins your skin." He said, a part of his brown hair falling in his face over his headband.

Chiyo looked back at him. "Darien, It isn't junk, it's warpaint." she told him, no matter how womanlike she could act, she was easily one of the guys at heart, however, she wasn't a lesbian.

Darien quirked a brow. "Well...whatever you say." He said, staring at the ceiling of the truck. "I still don't understand why you need it."

Chiyo looked back at him with a small grin. "Maybe if you tried some on, you would understand." She told him with a giggle.

"...No thanks, you just keep that stuff to yourself." he said, putting a hand out in front of him, turning his head the other way.

Chiyo grinned. "Thought so, now stay out of my business weather I put my warpaint on or not." she said to him, giving him that dominant tone. Which she knew he didn't like.

Ace hit the gas and took off from the grocery store, he knew this was going to be a long trip...he just hoped that Darien and Chiyo were both still alive by the time they got there.

2 hours went by, and they had already covered a lot of ground. A mysterious roadblock stopped them. And on top of that, there was a fair mist-like appearance of snow, meaning they had to travel slowly during this part.

Tomiya leaned up to the windshield. "Why'd ya stop" he asked Ace, looking over at him.

Ace looked back at him. "Roadblock." He pointed at the yellow and black wall in the road.

Chiyo looked at the roadblock. "But there aren't any police around there..." She said, scratching her head.

Loud crashes were heard as the figures of two ACs landed near the truck. One was a fiery red and orange paint, holding two flamethrowers. It was a middleweight AC. The other one was lighter, and sported a purple paint job, it had a regular laser rifle and two spherical Orbit Cannon launchers.

Tomiya frowned. "Okay, what in the hell is this? Can't random Ravens fight us AFTER our trip?" he shouted, starting to get out of the truck.

Darien looked at Tomiya. "Hey, Tomiya, I'll come with you!" he said, getting out as well. He wasn't going to let Tomiya go alone.

Till had been awake, and unimpressed at the fact of two ACs attacking the truck. He looked at the fiery red orange AC. He frowned; he knew what was going on. His former comrade, Sonneschein, was in that AC. Sonneschein still worked for Sakata Industries, working on the "S-type" computer program for ACs. "No, you stay here. I'll go with Tomiya. I have some personal business to take care of with the red one." He said, adjusting his eyepatch and getting out. "Come on, Tomiya. Let's teach these two a lesson for messing with our trip."

Tomiya just looked at him before getting out. "Ace, open the storage hatch doors so we can get our ACs."

"Got it". Ace replied.

-

Kaiser was watching the news; he squinted and looked forward at the screen when he saw a faint outline of a transport truck and ACs walking out of it. He knew Tomiya and his friends had taken a truck. But he wasn't sure if that was them. "If Tomiya gets himself killed, I won't forgive him for it. He beat me, so he can't lose to chump change ravens out there." He tightened the laces on his boots before getting up. "I'm going to see what's going on out there." He said to himself before getting in his own, smaller truck, which carried his prized AC, Royal Mist, in the back of it.

-

Tomiya dashed to the side of a laser shot. However, he soon had to dance to avoid many beams from multiple directions from the orbit cannons. "Can't you do anything else besides shoot orbit cannons at me?" he shouted at the other pilot, irritated.

Everything for Till seemed to slow down as he heard the purple pilot speak to Tomiya. "No…I can do a lot more if you want me to." The purple pilot said.

Till's eye widened. "That…voice…"

The purple AC's head seemed to turn towards Till. "…Till?" The pilot asked.

Till unconsiously boosted towards the purple AC.

The red orange AC sprayed some flamethrower fire at the back of Hell's Wings. "Not so fast…Till" The pilot of the red orange AC said.

Tomiya rubbed a finger in his ear. "What? Wait a minute!" Tomiya boosted over to the red orange AC to take the attack. "Till, you two KNOW each other?"

Till grimaced. "…I'll explain later…I need to talk to the pilot of the purple AC, you keep that fire-obsessed freak busy. Alright?"

Tomiya looked over his shoulder at Till. "Alright, I'll do my best." Cold Dragon's knees bent a little as it extended the hand with the Machinegun in it out at the red-orange AC he identified as "Phoenix"

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

AC Phoenix

Pilot: Sonneschein

AP: 8759

HEAD: MHD-MX/BEE

CORE: MCM-MI/008

ARMS: CAH-22-NIX

LEGS: CLM-02-SNSKAI

FCS: AOX-ANA

GENERATOR: CGP-ROZ

RADIATOR: RGI-KD99

INSIDE: N/A

EXT: N/A

BACK UNIT R/L: N/A / N/A

ARM UNIT R/L: KWG-FTL600 / KWG-FTL450

OPTIONAL: OP-INTENSIFY

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Pretty nice weapon you got there..." The pilot said, pointing both of his flamethrowers at Cold Dragon. "Hope you're fast enough though...these here will tear you apart." Phoenix pulled the triggers on both of the flamethrowers, launching jets of volatile semi-adhesive flame at Cold Dragon. Cold Dragon moved back, a bit landing on it's foot, sending it's heat up through the roof and doing deadly impact damage.

"Flamethrowers...fire-launching machineguns." Tomiya said to himself as the fire on his foot burned out, due to the cold outside, and his already excellent radiator, the AP drain was not much. He kept sliding back across the snow, firing bullets from his machinegun at Phoenix. Bullets ricocheted off of the armor of Phoenix, occasionally pockmarking the armor with a paintless dent, and a few holes.

Sonneschein smirked, inside of his cockpit. His eyes were not seen due to the visor he wore. "I'm going to toast you." He said, a bit of a psychotic tone on his voice as he directed Phoenix towards Cold Dragon, Flamethrowers in full power. Tomiya shoved the stick of his control to the side, sidestepping the blind rush and activating his MOONLIGHT blade, swinging it and cutting a deep crevice in Phoenix's torso, ruining the generator and causing the boosters to stop. The sudden stop caused Phoenix to topple foward, and face first, all of his HUD info fizzled out, he saw no chance to win right now. Fortunately for Sonneschein, Phoenix's basic motor functions were intact, as Sonneschein managed to get the war machine up, and managed to flee.

"..I guess I won." Tomiya said to himself, shaking the sweat from his mop of black hair. That flamethrower really let you feel the heat.

-

Hell's Wings and the purple AC, known as "Smokepath" stood away from each other, backs facing each other.

"I never imagined we'd meet again like this...Kaosu..." Till said, the only sound he heard was the humming of the AC, and his own brain activity.

"...Neither did I." Kaosu replied, a thin layer of snow falling off of her AC's arm.

"Why did you stay with Sakata Industries? Didn't you think that the "S-type" project was unethical" Till asked, actually showing a softened face for once.

"...The S-type...takes the brain of a Raven and replicates the battle data from it...an impressive, yet inhumane weapon." Kaosu said. "I planned on leaving after you did...but...I couldn't bring myself to leave...my comrades...Sonneschein, Dennis..."

"I've got a bone to pick with that bastard, Sonneschein." Till muttered.

"...How about we settle this, right now? If you win...I'll join you...sweetie." Kaosu told him, smiling to herself.

"...Alright, Quickdraw." Till murmured.

"...Till! Are you still alive" Tomiya's voice crackled over Till's com.

That was the signal. Both Hell's Wings and Smokepath spun on an armored heel, Hell's Wings brought up it's KARASAWA to the cockpit of Smokepath before Smokepath could aim it's bazooka at the other cockpit.

"...I win." Till said, holding the KARASAWA there.

Kaosu let out a sigh. "I only let you win...so I could be with you again." She said.

"...Yeah, whatever." Till said, slowly regaining his lost love he had for Kaosu. "Let's just get back..."

The two of them headed back to the others.

Ace looked at the newcomer as Darien and Tomiya were strapping Kaosu's AC onto the back of the truck, seeing as there was no more room inside. "..." he realized that she was the consort he had that one time. "...What the hell is this shit? She just attacked us...and you're letting her come with us" Ace shouted, not particuarly happy with this.

Till glared at him. "It's a long story...I'll explain on the way." He said.

Kaosu hugged Till closely. "..." She looked up at Till.

Till looked back down at her, his eye looking tender and soft-hearted. He brushed some of Kaosu's purple bangs out of her face.

Tomiya was standing in the doorway. "Guys, get a room." He said, wanting to get in out of the cold.

Till and Kaosu blushed slightly as they shook their heads and went back to get out of Darien and Tomiya's ways. Tomiya and Darien took their seats, and Ace maneuvered around the roadblock.

There was still 4 more hours of travel ahead.

Chapter 7 End


	8. The Journey's Peak

Chapter 8: The Journey's Peak.

Tomiya stared out the window at the night sky. He sighed, then looked over at Ace, who was moving stuff away from his driving space. Ace threw a bag of chips away from him, it hit Tomiya.

"OW! Ace, you just hit me in the balls with a bag of chips!" Tomiya shouted, slightly pained.

Darien let out a chuckle, leaning back and staring at the ceiling of the truck.

Ace looked out the window at a nearby diner. "Hey...that truck looks familiar..." He said.

Tomiya looked at the truck. "Hey, that's Kaiser's Truck!"

Ace looked back. "Hey, let's go grab a bite to eat. We've got about an hour left."

Ace turned towards the Diner, parking the truck and turning it off.

Tomiya looked back at everyone else. "Come on, we're going to get something to eat...a real meal." He said as he got out of the truck.

Ace walked in first, nodding to the cashier, tapping Kaiser on the shoulder. "Hey, buddy."

Kaiser looked over his shoulder. "Hey! Ace! How's it goin'?"

Ace grinned a bit. "We were attacked earlier.."

Kaiser nodded "I heard...I was comin' to help, but I suppose you young kids handled the situation just fine."

Tomiya gave a thumbs up, tilting his head a little. "Yep. We won."

Kaiser grinned a bit. "I guess you can put another notch on your gun, cowboy."

"Yeah.." Tomiya said, sitting down.

"So, where were you all headed?" Kaiser asked.

Tomiya sighed. "To go get a part for Ace's AC, since his core got trashed in the last mission we did."

Kaiser chuckled a little bit. "Even if he's ranked above me, he still gets his AC trashed more than I do."

Ace just looked away, embarrassed.

A man tapped Tomiya on the shoulder. "Hey, I've got a bone to pick with you."

Tomiya closed his eyes, not moving. "You know...now's not the time to be picking a fight with me."

"Oh, why not?" The man said as he threw a punch for the back of Tomiya's head. The punch hit...but it didn't hit Tomiya. Instead, the fist went sailing right into Kaiser's rock hard gut.

Kaiser brushed some of his brown hair out of his face. He looked down at the considerably smaller man. Kaiser stood at about 6'11", 320 pounds. Kaiser was one behemoth of a man, with a build to boot, too.

Tomiya chuckled from behind Kaiser. "That's why."

Kaiser narrowed his eyes at the man. "So, are you going to swing at me like you've got a pair now? Because that last one sure did tickle."

The man tried to run away, but Kaiser wrapped his massive hand around the back of the man's neck, hoisted him up, and tossed him through the door.

Tomiya grinned slightly. "Well done..."

Darien had a look of shock on his face. "Remind me never to anger him anytime soon, or like, ever." He said, stammering.

Chiyo looked up at Kaiser, her blonde braid falling off of her shoulder, just blinking.

Kaiser looked down at Chiyo, then at Tomiya. "Maybe we should get going."

Tomiya looked up at Kaiser and nodded. "Yeah, let's get out of here, Oh, and hey, you don't need to worry about us anymore...Go on home, spend more time with your old woman."

Kaiser's eyebrow raised. "She's NOT my old woman, we're just friends, that's all!"

Tomiya smirked "Riiiiiight...Yeah, seeya later. Hey, maybe when we get back, I'll challenge you in the Arena, you seem to be getting out of practice from what I saw a few days ago."

Kaiser gave him a dirty look. "Yeah, Alright." He tugged on the sides of his flannel jacket before heading out, ducking his head a bit to get out of the doorway.

Till looked at Tomiya. "You know, just because you're the southern A-1 Raven doesn't mean everyone is below you."

Tomiya looked at him. "Hey, I didn't say that. Besides, I was just giving him a hard time." Tomiya looked over at Ace. "If Ace were to practice more, he could beat me."

Ace jerked his head towards Tomiya. "Hey! Shut your face!"

"Kidding!"

"...Yeah, really..."

Mokohara yawned loudly. "Well, I'm getting bored! Let's get out of here!"

Tomiya looked at her. "Yeah..." He got up and headed for the door.

When they got outside, the loud roar of MT jets was heard close by. From their viewpoint, an Orange and grey AC with round shield extensions and a rifle was firing at the MTs. The rifle rounds tearing away at the metallic skin of the MTs.

Mokohara squinted a little. "Hey, isn't that-" she was cut off.

Tomiya's eyes widened a little. "Sam...!" He looked back at the others. "Come on, let's get into our ACs and give him some help!" He said, running for the truck.

A blur of Sky blue thrust through the dark air, cutting into the side of an MT, the blade eating it's way through armor and machinery alike, plodding through the entire machine. The stubby top half of the MT fell to the ground with a loud crash, the legs standing there, motionless. The ominous blue figure of Cold Dragon boosted to it's next target, laying down a barrage of machinegun fire. Beams of blue cut through MTs, as the reverse jointed Hell's wings boosted overhead.

"We can't take all three ACs!" one MT pilot shouted to the other.

"Yeah, let's get out of here!" The other shouted back, as they started to retreat.

Their retreat was cut short by a torrent of bullets, as Youthanasia's large amount of machinegun fire made short work of them.

The Orange AC remained silent for a few seconds. Then... "Tomiya...? Is that you?"

"Sam, what are you doing, getting yourself into trouble again?" Tomiya asked.

"Hey, I can survive anything, remember?"

"...Yeah, but there'll be that time when Lady luck stops smiling upon you." Tomiya told him.

"Yeah, that'll be the day." He replied. "I'm going to go get my payment, seeya." His AC's engines fired and he zoomed off into the darkness.

"...Yeah...watch your back anyways..." Tomiya said to himself, opening the cockpit door as he walked the AC back to the truck.

Another, unfamiliar looking AC slid onto the scene. Before it did anything else, it was already staring down the barrel of Hell's Wings' KARASAWA.

"Hey! W-wait! I'm on your side!" Ace said over the radio.

Tomiya stared at the new AC. "Ace, how much did this cost you?"

"I only paid for the core part, they transferred my old parts and recycled my old core, and gave all the parts a free paintjob." Ace told him.

Tomiya gave him the eyebrow. "Well, good for you, load it up in the truck so we can get the hell out of here.".

Darien got out of his AC, patting it on the foot. "Yeah, that means we can go back."

Chapter 8 End...


	9. That's a HUGE MACHINE!

Chapter 9:  
That's a HUGE MACHINE!

It had been several weeks since they had returned home. Ace went back to his own place in the city. Darien woke up very early, he needed a drink of water. Since his room was next to Chiyo's, he looked inside to see if she was still asleep.

She wasn't there.

"...?" He raised an eyebrow, then shrugged. "She must have pulled a Tomiya and went on an early mission..." he whispered to himself before heading towards the kitchen for a drink.

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Chiyo was sitting in the cockpit of her AC, she named it "Titanium Ion", It was a middleweight, but it had a lot of armor for a middleweight. It was also armed extensively with Energy ammo, in order to keep AC costs low.

"...Launching!" The pilot of the transport copter announced, unlatching Chiyo's AC from the copter, dropping it into the forest below.

"Remember, your target is the enemy prototype, you shouldn't encounter any other resistance." The operator told Chiyo.

Chiyo nodded, adjusting her glasses. "Got it" She replied. Setting her AC into motion, she was picking up a large read on her radar. "Woah...that signal is huge." She said to herself. A dull buzzing in her head made her look through the leaves of the trees, and boost to the side to avoid a huge particle cannon blast.

"WHAT? Now, No AC can even carry a weapon like that!" She shouted, looking in the path of destroyed trees.

The prototype, the MTHA-08, looked a lot like a huge green pod with one visor and a glowing monoeye. Supporting this beast was a pair of large legs with fairly sized clawed feet. It was lined with barrels, for other particle cannons, and a large circle in the middle, for the main cannon.

"...Is this the prototype?" she asked herself, raising her right arm, firing the XCB-75 Laser Rifle. The long green string of focused energy sailed through the air. It came in contact with it's target, but did no damage, instead, the laser dissipated and sent a shimmer over a spherical form around the huge machine.

"?" Chiyo kept firing the gun at the target, as it turned around and it's Mega Particle Cannons began to prime again, to fire.

She was about to boost to the side, when three separate rounds from a different angle slammed into the huge MT, knocking it's aim off and sending the particle cannons in wayward directions.

"Hey! Wait! Why does your weapon hit it but not mine?" Chiyo asked, if anyone was listening.

"Because it's Generator is also making an improvised I-field, it dissipates lasers." the female pilot said, coming to a halt in front of the machine. It was a lightweight AC equipped with a spread bazooka.

The AC bounded into action, sliding between the legs of the MT and shooting upwards, damaging the shield generator in the process.

"Hit it! The shield is down!" The pilot said.

Chiyo boosted towards the MT, firing her laser rifle, tearing holes through the body of the MT.

The pilot got out of the damaged machine with an assault rifle, standing on a shoulder while shooting down at Chiyo's AC.

The pilot shouted "I'm not going to let you beat me! I'm going to destroy you! For the ideals of Sakata industries...!" There was an explosion, which incinerated the pilot, and the giant MT fell to the ground with a crash. Chiyo let out a sigh of relief.

"Mission accomplished" She said to herself, heading away from the area.

Tomiya was on his way out, he was leaving, he had recieved an assignment from an unknown source. He climbed up a rope leading into the cockpit of Cold Dragon. Once inside, he pressed a few buttons and gripped the two control sticks and manipulated them to get Cold Dragon to get up. He followed directions that the source had given him.

"There's nothing here..." He said to himself, then he heard the chatter of machineguns in the distance. Looking up, he saw smoke in the distance.

"It's probably over there!" and with that, he kicked his thrusters forward in that direction.

Inside a bunker, a woman in a white lab coat, and a somewhat short black skirt and a red undershirt was sitting at a computer, trying to get a communication computer running.

"Dammit, where's that Raven? Those Crest MTs are getting through the defense perimiter and I can't use any of these prototype weapons here, because they're just actual size dummy models!" She pushed her glasses up her nose and tucked some of her short black hair behind her ear, crossing her fingers.

Several bullets tore through an MT, Cold Dragon seemed like it was gliding across the air as it fired downward at the MT. Cold Dragon landed in front of the bunker, and the MTs stopped for a moment, shocked.

One of the MT pilots commed in to Crest HQ. "Headquarters! We've encountered a Raven! What should we do?" A video feed of a shadowed man appeared in the video display. "Kill him." The man said, looking up slightly, his glasses the only thing being seen, and the video turned off.

Another MT pilot turned to look at their Commander, which was shown by it's black color and a radio antenna on it's head. "Commander Mag, what do we do?"

"Open Fire!" the commander shouted, firing a bazooka round at Cold Dragon.

Something clicked in Tomiya's mind, and in a moment of what was easily explained as a fluke, his body moved to the right and his left hand grabbed the Bazooka round by the side. Tomiya looked down at the ground beneath him. The maneuver would have normally been an impossible one with all the rubble on the ground, but he didn't even tell himself to do that, he just...did it.

The MT commander's eyes went wide. "FIRE! FIRE!"

The MTs opened fire with their Machineguns. Cold Dragon slid behind a building, boosting around the building and blading the MT from the side. While the blade was still going through the first MT, Tomiya unleashed a barrage of bullets at the other MT, knocking out it's head lens for the camera, then piercing it's arm, and raking a line from it's shoulder to it's opposite leg, killing the pilot in the cockpit on the way. By that time, the blade had cut through the first MT and thrust into the cockpit of the commander's MT. The commander wasn't even able to scream. Tomiya pulled the blade out and let the MT fall, he looked up and there were more reinforcements on the way.

"HEY! OVER HERE!" The woman shouted, running out of the bunker towards the AC.

Tomiya narrowed his eyes. "What are you, stupid? There's more MTs coming and you're just standing around like nothing's happening? Oh, let me guess, I'm supposed to protect you or something?"

"Yes." The woman said.

Tomiya was silent for a few seconds, then sighed, kneeling the AC and holding his empty hand out. The woman stepped onto it, and Tomiya picked her up and set her in the empty hangar in his core unit. "Wait here." he told her. "You know, I would at least like to know the name of the princess I'm saving today." he said.

The woman blushed a little at being called "princess". "My name is Stephanie Eym...I used to work with Crest Industries, but allegedly, I sold info about Crest prototypes to other companies and now they want me dead for something I didn't do." She sighed, wiping off her glasses. "And may I be granted the name of my Knight in shining armor?"

Tomiya looked down from a high hill at the confused MTs, he got away in time. "Just call me Tomiya". He said.

Stephanie paused for a moment, before looking up to where the cockpit was. "Hey, can I stay at your place?"

"Ye-wait, what?"

"Yeah, Seeing as my home was one of the dorms in a Crest lab, and, yeah, Crest wants me dead now, so I don't have anywhere else to go."

"...Well, Alright, but I don't have any other beds, you'll have to take the couch."

"Fine by me." She said.

"...So what did you do over at Crest labs? Human expiriments, combat testing?" Tomiya asked.

"Kind of...I was on the R & D team, you know, developing new weapons/systems, stuff like that"

"Hm...well, I guess you could continue your work while staying with us." he said.

"Wait. "us"?" she asked.

Tomiya nodded. "Yes, I don't live alone."

"Oh"

Meanwhile, Till and Kaosu had wandered far away from the house, and decided to sit down on a large, grassy field.

Kaosu looked up at Till, who was sitting next to her. "Till...did you have something you wanted to tell me...?"

Till looked down at her, his visible eye blinking. "Well...It's going to be a bit difficult for me to tell you...because I don't know how you'll respond..."

Kaosu just looked up at him.

"I meant to tell you this a long time ago, before I left the Roter Tod...but I had never gotten a chance...The mission I meant to return from to tell you...I was hospitalized...because Dennis...He sent me on that almost suicide mission, and after that, I decided to leave, I wasn't going to put up with it."

Kaosu grabbed his hand gently. "What is it...?"

Till squeezed her hand back gently. "Kaosu...I...I love you."

Kaosu's eyes widened a little. "Till...I've wanted to hear those three words for the longest time...I was angry, and that's why I stayed with the Roter Tod, so I could find you...And give you another chance..." She leaned up, placing a hand on his cheek, and pulled him into a deep kiss. She lost her balance and fell over on top of him, their lips still locked.

The sun crept behind the mountains, leaving them to do whatever they wished to do within the night...

Chapter 9 End...


	10. Secrets Untold No More

Chapter 10:  
Secrets Untold No More

Smoke bellowed through one of the old, abandoned cities, the sounds of large metallic feet hitting the ground echoed through the garden of wrecked skyscrapers and houses. A pair of ACs, accelerating on yellow plumes of exhaust stopped behind a large cathedral type building, their target seemed to be a large warehouse

Tomiya raised the left hand of his AC to look at it, it was encased in an orange cylinder. "I can't believe I let that inventor use my AC as a test dummy for her new weapon!"

A yellow and black quadruped turned it's head towards Cold Dragon, waving it's dual bazookas around slightly. This AC belonged to Mokohara, this was her "Thunder Horse". "Don't worry about it. She seems nice, and she seems to know what she's talking about too." She said to him.

"...What was the mission again?"

"Clear out the warehouse, This will disable Mirage from getting a foothold in the city." She told him.

"Oh. I'll head in, If I give you a signal, back me up."

"...Alright"

Tomiya slammed his foot onto a pedal in his cockpit, initiating his boosters, he went around the cathedral and took to the sky. He let the boosters stop and crashed through the ceiling of the warehouse, firing his machinegun down at the MTs inside on his way downward, striking shots in cockpits and headparts. He caught a glimpse of an AC out of the corner of his eye, raised his left arm, and the cylinder shattered, a salvo of missiles flying towards the AC. The AC attempted to dodge to the side, but was caught by some of the missiles, knocking it to the ground. This bought Tomiya enough time to finish off the remaining MTs.

"I didn't expect they'd send YOU here..." The pilot of a black AC said to him, getting up off the ground.

The black AC shared a similar construction to the unknown AC Tomiya had faced in the factory, only it was lighter, and had a lighter Grenade launcher, the voice, however, was the same.

Tomiya narrowed his eyes, hearing the voice. "It's you...". He shook the scraps of the missile cylinder off of his left arm, pointing his machine gun at him.

"Since...we'll most likely meet after this, I might as well give you my name...My name is Dennis Glaeser. I'm sure you've heard of my little band of pilots, the Roter Tod."

"Roter Tod? What are you talking about?"

"Oh? So he didn't tell you?"

"You sound like a damn crackhead! Talk sense!"

"Well, in that case.." Before Dennis could finish his sentence, a dark, almost black brown AC with one red eye boosted in front of Dennis

"I'll take care of this one..." The pilot said.

"Who are you?" Tomiya shouted.

"Oh, this is Agraya, she's a replacement for that useless Kaosu...you know, the one who joined up with your little ragtag band of Ravens?"

"!" Tomiya's eyes widened "What are you talking about?" His face tore into a snarl as he spoke.

"I'd tell you, but that would take too long. Why don't you ask Till..." his AC started to back out of the warehouse. "Agraya."

"Yes, Dennis?" She replied.

"Kill him." He said, boosting out of the warehouse.

"Looks like today isn't your lucky day" Agraya said to Tomiya. She flipped the Chaingun over her shoulder and fired several rounds from it. Tomiya dashed to the side, raising his own machinegun and firing several rounds. One round hit a lucky spot, and knocked the Chaingun off of it's mount, the gun flailing wildly before stopping.

"I'm going to get you for that!" She shouted, raising her arm and firing a grenade.

Tomiya was already in the middle of boosting towards Agraya's AC, he moved to the side, spun around and swung his blade into the midsection, below the cockpit.

Agraya shouted. "This is impossible! You can't beat me! ... Go ahead and kill me already!"

Tomiya closed his eyes. "No." He kicked over the standing legs of her AC with his. "Become a better pilot and leave the Roter Tod, from what it seems like...they're up to no good."

Agraya went silent for a moment. "I suppose you're well informed of his company's doings...Sakata Industries..."

"What do you mean?"

"The B-type...It-" The com channel cut out.

Tomiya sighed. "Guess I'll have to finish that sentence on my own..." He kicked his thrusters and headed out of the warehouse. "Mokohara, mission's complete, let's go." He said.

"Right behind you." She replied.

----------------------------------------------------------

In a forest, a lightweight AC wielding dual Rifles was holding off a squad of MTs, the MTs were heavily armored and had a red "S" emblazoned on their shields.

"Come on! Come on! I'm getting bored!" the pilot shouted. One of the rifles ran out of ammo. He tossed it up, caught it by the barrel and flung it at one of the MTs, scoring a direct hit in it's head, reaching into his Hangar and pulling out the handgun he had stored in there, firing alongside his other rifle.

A loud gunshot was heard far off, one of the MTs falling with a large hole in it's chest. The pilot looked behind him, a teal AC with black joints and a glowing orange eye was there, holding a rather sizeable rifle, looked like a sniper rifle.

"You look like you could use some help." The other pilot said. This was Stephanie's AC, Without an actual "pay", she decided to become a Raven to make money. Plus, her being an inventor also let her have her own toy to play around with, the rifle she brought was a custom sniper rifle adapted to shoot not bullets, but an uranium dart designed to liquify armor on contact.

"Save the formalities for later, we have MTs to take care of." Stephanie added, firing another round. The only downside of this custom weapon was that the reload rate was slower than the average sniper rifle. The round blew through one MT, and lodged itself in the other, rupturing fuel storage in the second one and causing it to explode.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chiyo picked up the newspaper off of a coffee table, adjusting her glasses a bit while reading it under her breath to herself. "Several Ravens reported as missing...Hozumi, Brace...whoa...over 10 Ravens gone missing.."

Darien sneaked up behind her and grabbed her shoulders lightly. "Boo!"

"EEEK!" Chiyo picked up a coffee mug that was on the table and swung it right into Darien's head, breaking it. Darien stumbled back and fell down, holding his head.

"OW, THAT REALLY, REALLY HURT!"

Chiyo was now standing over Darien, her red braid falling over her shoulder, hand with the handle of the coffee cup still in hand. She blinked, looking down at Darien for a moment.

"...OHMYGOD! I'm sorry!" She hurried and helped Darien up off the floor, Darien was simply dazed that Chiyo didn't simply walk off.

"Um..." Darien just let his sentence trail off.

"You shouldn't have snuck up on me, Darien" Chiyo said, while somewhat leaning on him as to look him in the face.

"I...uh..." Darien's cheeks began to grow red. "...sorry?"

Chiyo smiled. "You're forgiven".

Darien smiled sheepishly. "Um...not to say that I'm not enjoying this, but could you get off of me before I start pitching a tent?"

Chiyo looked down, and blushed, then quickly stopped leaning on him and sat a seat away on the couch, looking away.

Darien just raised an eyebrow at her, then shrugged.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Stephanie lowered her rifle as she kneeled her AC on the ground, the MTs that she and the other pilot were fighting had all been put out of commission. "So...what's your name?"

The pilot was silent for a few seconds. "My name is...uh..Chris." His AC's head turned towards a bird. "Hey look, a bird...Oh. Yours?"

"I'm Stephanie." She replied.  
"Thanks for helping me back there." Chris said

"No problem" Stephanie replied.

"...Hey! Wanna go get a coffee or something?" Chris asked

"...Um...OK." Stephanie said. "But where are we going to put the ACs?"

Chris grinned. "We can put them at my place!"

"Alright".

Chapter 10 end...


	11. DODGE THIS

Chapter 11:  
DODGE THIS.

Inside one of the Earth-maintained "Luna Coffee" shops, among the soft murmur of people talking and glasses clinking, Stephanie had some papers laid out on the table, they were blueprints of prototype weapon ideas she had, Chris said he was interested in them, and she decided to show them to him.  
"So...which one is the one you used when you were helping me?"

"Oh, it's this one right here." Stephanie showed him a picture of a very long sniper rifle, long enough to have to be held with two hands. "It uses an extremely long barrel so that the explosive force has more time to burn, therefore, has more power backing the round, which is a uranium dart, shot out of the barrel fast enough, can liquify armor on contact."

Chris just blinked, not understanding most of what she said. "Oh. Well, any others?"

Stephanie shuffled through some papers. "Well, after making my home with some new friends, I studied their weapon preferences and made weapons that match their style, but are more efficient than your Corporation weapons...such as..." She shuffled through some more papers. "For one who uses Machinegun weapons extensively, it's a forearm mounted Chaingun. Designed to be hidden at first, then activated and fired. I also had a Chest Mounted Vulcan gun, but I couldn't get it to fit in some of the Core Units, I could only get it to fit in Overboost and Standard cores."

"Why only those?" Chris asked.

"It was too hard to fit both chest mounted vulcans and the AMS systems in AMS cores, and EO cores already have internal weapons."

"Oh, well...Hey look over there." Chris pointed at a fire far off.

Stephanie looked. "Probably a battle, don't worry about it."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There was a knock at the door of Tomiya's house, which had recently been modified to accomodate more people. He opened the door to a rather tall girl, sporting fire engine red hair pulled up into pigtails. Tomiya collected himself quickly. "Yes?"

The girl smiled slightly. "Hi. I'm looking for Till, is he here?"

Tomiya tensed up slightly. _Could this be an assassin who's after Till's life?_

"To be honest, he isn't here, but you're welcome to stay here until he gets back..uh..."

"Frau." the girl said. "My name is Frau."

"Nice to meet you, Frau." Tomiya replied, still not completely trusting her. _Hey, Till's an A-OK crazy German guy, if she tried any funny stuff towards him, he could probably rip her apart or something...with his bare hands._

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A flash of blue ripped into the torso of an MT, leaving a nice crater of where the cockpit used to be. Till's AC overboosted past the defeated MT, the wind of his AC's movement knocking the lifeless machine over. The blade on his left arm primed as he made a curve around the barrel of an MT's Bazooka and brought his blade through the MT, making a complete turn and pointing his KARASAWA at another's head, firing, vaporizing the stubby head of the MT.

Suddenly, from a nearby building, a dual stream of fire burned away an old building. Walking out of the burning remains was the same Reddish orange AC that attacked during the road trip.

"Sonneschein..." Till muttered, stepping outside of the range of his flamethrowers.

"...You know, Till, it's sad that we had to end up like this..." Sonneschein pointed a flamethrower at Hell's Wings. "You and I...and Kaosu...could have become the best Ravens in the world."

"At the expense of the lives of other Ravens? Including Dennis's pick for the S-Type Hub control...Ellice?"

Sonneschein let out a chucke. "Oh yes...the fiancee of that pest...Tomiya."

Till's eyes widened. "...!"

"Oh yes...Ahahaha...AH-HAHAHAHAHAHA! How does it feel to learn that YOU were involved in killing your friend's fiancee for some twisted, inhumane expiriment?"

Till stammered a bit, trying to regain his senses. "Y-y...you...YOU FUCKING LIE! THIS IS JUST ANOTHER ONE OF YOUR BULLSHIT MIND GAMES TO TRY AND GET ME BACK IN THE ROTER TOD!" Till screamed, quickly pointing his KARASAWA at the cockpit of Die Sonne.

"Oh if only...I wish it were just a petty mind game, it'd be much more fun. But that is the truth." Sonneschein said. "Now, do you really want to go back to your friend bearing news that You were involved in killing his fiancee in the name of some twisted expiriment? Or will you be the first of his band of cockroaches to die first?"

"I'd rather live in shame than let someone like yourself kill me." Till retorted, starting to prime his boosters when he heard another AC, fast coming.

"COME AND GET IT WHILE IT'S HOT, MUTHAFUCKA!" the pilot shouted, crashing through a building, slamming a giant steel fist directly into the head of Die Sonne, smashing the head and sending the lighter AC flying backwards into a skyscraper.

"I never expected you, the mighty Till, to call for backup" Sonneschein said, attempting to dig himself and his AC out of the rubble.

"What? I didn't call for any backup!" Till turned his AC towards the newly appeared Heavyweight, it sported back mounted Pursuit Missile launchers and a Bazooka in it's left hand, the right hand weapon, a shotgun, had ran out of ammo earlier, and was discarded among a scrap heap of MTs further back.

"Name's Rico Velasquez." he said, sniffing hard.

"-What- are you doing here?" Till asked, annoyed.

"I overheard your little convo with your brother here...or whatever he is." Rico pointed at the AC digging out of rubble. "Now I know what those Roter Tod fucks did with my friends, they killed 'em off and used their brains for some weird S-Type shit, isn't that right, Sunshine?"

Sonneschien's beheaded AC managed to stand upright "My name is 'Sonneschein', pronounce it right."

"I don't give a flyin' rats ass about how it's pronounced, Sunshit."

Sonneschein twitched inside of his AC. "Anyways, you are correct, you overgrown ape. The Roter Tod abducted Ravens, including your friends, and used their brains to make AI systems."

"So THAT'S what the S-type thing is..." Rico turned his head towards Till's AC. "Did you know anything about this crap?"

Till sighed. "Yes, after we had made our first kill...the Fiancee of a friend of mine, who I didn't know at the time... I found out what it was, and I left the Roter Tod. It was too unethical for me."

Rico was silent for a moment, then he turned back towards Die Sonne. "Tell me, who's your leader, and where is he?"

"I'm afraid I will not tell you that." Sonneschein said. "You may have defeated me now, but we'll meet again, you can get the information then, if you can beat me."

"Anytime, worthless punk." Rico said, narrowing his eyes.

Till still has his KARASAWA raised as Sonneschein opened his cockpit to see where he was going for an escape. "Now, go run back to your master, or do you want me to tear your cockpit apart like I did to your Sakata lackeys?"

Sonneschein's blonde hair waved in wisps with the wind, his large "sunglasses", covering his eyes, he took them off for a moment, revealing bright, blank red eyes, he glared directly into the eye of Till's AC before boosting away.

Till stood still for a moment, then abruptly turned his AC away and overboosted away.

Rico stood there, alone, watching Hell's Wings fade into the smoke. "Poor guy...Hardly know him and feel sorry for him." He shrugged inside his cockpit. "Whatever, I'm gonna go get my money and get the hell off of this rock, Next Stop. Mars."

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Chiyo sighed, taking a sip of tea. Darien was sitting on the couch a cushion away, watching the "Monday Night Arena" fights.

"Argh, this sucks. All the damn fighters in the arena are newbs tonight." Darien complained, flipping through the channels.

Chiyo set down her tea and put a hand on Darien's, setting the controller down for him. "I have an idea."

"Yeah? What?"

"Why don't we...um..go do something...like...ah..."

"Watch the Arena fights in person?"

"No! I meant..ah, nevermind, just follow me." she replied, showing him to Darien's ATV-style Jeep. "I'll give you directions."

"Uh...Okay." Darien said, shrugging. _I don't know about this change in her attitude all of a sudden...it's weird...but I kinda like it. _He thought as he got into the driver's seat, turning the key and revving the engine up, he backed out of the yard and onto a road.

Chiyo occasionally glanced over to Darien, her dark red braid being pulled at by the wind.

Darien looked up at the night sky, the large spikes of hair on his head bending to the will of the wind, his long ponytail waving like a flag. "So, Miss Navigator, where are we going?

Chiyo looked down at a map. "Turn left...here. Then when you get up to the speed limit sign, there will be a fork in the road about 30 miles ahead of that, take the road on the right, go over the bridge and go up the mountain."

"Ok." He said, pressing the gas pedal a little harder.

Darien was a fast driver, so they were at the base of the mountain in about a half an hour. He looked up at the mountain as he kicked the 4x4 in and started going up the rough trail up the mountain. Darien glanced over at Chiyo, then back at the trail. _This is still odd...usually, she wouldn't want anything to do with me...but she's been acting a little strange lately. _

Chiyo pointed at a cliff. "Park here."

Darien pulled up to the cliff, so that they had a view of all of the city, which was still under construction in some places, much like Neo Tokyo in several novels sold in the stores. Darien hit a button and put the top over the Jeep, and slouched in his seat slightly.

Chiyo slid across the seat next to Darien.

Darien shifted slightly uncomfortably, looking over at Chiyo. "...?"

Chiyo looked up at Darien, since she was shorter than him.  
_What...what does she want me to do, kiss her? That'd be a cold day in hell if she let me though...But...what the hell, my dad told me to always go with your gut feeling..._

Darien leaned over slightly, closed his eyes, and put his lips gently to Chiyo's.

Chiyo blushed heavily, shocked at first, but she soon closed her eyes and seemed to melt in his arms.

Darien pulled away, looking into her eyes with his, which showed a sharp, deep feeling. "Chiyo..."

Chiyo kept looking up at him. "Shut up and kiss me."

Darien pulled her into a deep kiss, while rolling up the windows with his free hand. Darien brought his other hand to her back, as he lowered the both of them both to the large seat of his jeep...

Chapter 11 End...


End file.
